Smallville: Fixing Reality
by Drusilla Lance
Summary: Smallville isn't the same. The people aren't the same. Can reality be fixed?
1. Prologue

A/N: Co-written with The Psycho aka Lex Fishbrains.  
  
"Lex Luthor said he wanted all the meteor rocks that are in this mountain mined out by the end of this week," the foreman said. "Is the dynamite set?"  
  
"Yessir," the miner said. "Once we blow a whole into this mountain, we should be able to get to the rocks without a problem."  
  
"Good." The foreman hit the intercom button. "Attention all personnel! Please clear the vicinity! Detonation in will commence in one minute! Attention all personnel! Please clear the vicinity! Detonation in will commence in one minute!"  
  
"So what does Lex Luthor want with all these meteor rocks?" the miner asked.  
  
The foremen shrugged. "Something about an experiment."  
  
A minute passed and everyone cleared the bombsite. The countdown began. "...4...3...2...1." The foreman hit the button causing the dynamite to explode.  
  
And that's when it happened. When the planet Earth was ripped to shreds and  
  
reassembled. The blast of the dynamite caused a chemical reaction with the  
  
meteor rocks. The result sent the timeline into chaos. All life ceased to exist. Every event never happened. The earth disappeared from the face of the universe. In an attempt to restore order, the magnetism of the cosmos fluctuates and works in unison to bring the earth back into existence. They weren't entirely successful. Though the earth was restored, the timeline wasn't. Some events that happened in earth's history happened differently or didn't happen at all. Some events stayed the same. Some people were born that weren't before, some died that weren't supposed to. Some people stayed the same; some went thru personality shattering changes. One thing was for sure, this wasn't the earth you once knew, these aren't the people you once knew. 


	2. Chapter One: Boy

The year was 1989. The place was Smallville. The situation was tragic. Everywhere you looked, it seemed, rocks were falling from the sky. It was like Judgement Day or Armageddon--whatever you wanted to call it. The point was that life, at least life as the folks of Smallville knew it, seemed to be over.  
  
This was the day that would change that town forever. Meteors crashed down and destroyed buildings, street signs, even the "Welcome to Smallville" sign that once stood to greet the friendly town's visitors.  
  
But the destruction barely scratched the surface of the change that befell Smallville after that day. Buildings can be rebuilt, restored, but the loss of lives cannot be changed...and neither can the arrival of new ones.  
  
Lionel Luthor had just arrived in Smallville that fateful day to finalize a business acquisition that he had made there. He was there alone, besides the pilot that flew his helicopter.  
  
As soon as the copter had landed, Lionel looked up and watched three streaks shoot across the sky. Two of them looked almost green, but the other was silvery, as if it were made of some kind of metal. Lionel watched as a huge explosion of dust flew from behind his new fertilizer plant, where the three objects had impacted.  
  
Lionel got out of the helicopter and started toward that spot, when his pilot opened his door and began screaming at him. "Mr. Luthor! I advise you to stay here- you don't know if it's safe! You-"  
  
But Lionel wouldn't listen to him. He was well away from the copter when the pilot began to step out, and as he did so, another green streak flew toward the plant, only this one seamed to be flying a lot lower. Lionel heard the meteor and started at a sprint away from the rock as it collided with the copter's propellers. The entire contraption went up in flames, the pilot along with it.  
  
Lionel shielded his face with his jacket. Hesitating for only a moment, he returned on his initial course, towards the meteors that had fallen behind the building.  
  
As he carefully strides around the edge of the building, he saw two large craters that encompassed the space where the parking lot had been only moments before. Behind that crater was a third one, much smaller, and steam was flooding upward and out of it.  
  
Lionel moved closer to it and as it became clearer, he realized that what had made this hole was not a meteor at all. It was some kind of metallic devise. He hesitantly bent over it, and his eyes widened as he realized what it undoubtedly had to be:  
  
A ship. From another world.  
  
He suddenly spun around as he heard the laughter of a small child. It was coming from inside of one of the craters. As he watched the one on the left, a large object began to rise up out of it. It was the rock that had made the hole in the first place. It seemed to hover in midair for a few seconds as the child's laughter grew, and almost as quickly as it had fallen, it shot upwards, back into the sky. Lionel stared upward in complete amazement- the meteor had left his view totally, and it didn't look like it was ever coming back.  
  
A nude, seemingly-human boy of no more than three years crawled out of the meteor, giggling as if he had just spent the day at Chuckie Cheese's. He ran up to Lionel and hugged his legs.  
  
Lionel realized three things at that moment. One: An alien child from another world had crash-landed on Earth. Two: He possessed an incredible superhuman strength. And three: He, Lionel Luthor, had found him.  
  
And in the Luthor world, finders-keepers. Lionel smiled.  
  
He took off his jacket and wrapped the boy up in it. He cradled him in his arms as he crouched down to inspect this incredible space ship he had discovered. It was small and metallic, with one small wing on its right side. On its left was a giant, gaping hole. He looked into it and saw that an unbroken wall sat between the part of the ship that was still intact and this rip in the ship's hull. It was as if Lionel had only found half of the ship--it was round, but only one half of a sphere was here.  
  
Lionel wondered if there was another part to this ship, then where was it? And what was inside of it?  
  
He walked into the building and called for another helicopter. The pilot inside would take him back to Metropolis, and would be sworn to secrecy about this discovery.  
  
Lionel's life, as well as everyone else who had witnessed this tragedy, was about to change. A whole hell of a lot. 


	3. Chapter Two: Girl

They had been on their way home from Nell's Flower Shop when the sky began to rain fire. A large rock fell from the sky and crashed right into the road the couple was travelling on. The man driving swerved off the road to avoid crashing into the inter-stellar debris. Another meteor rock fell from the sky and landed right next to the truck, causing to flip over.  
  
The couple was unconscious of several minutes. The husband was the first to awake. He blinked and shook his head. He wiped the blood from his eye that had dripped from a cut across his forehead. He nudged his wife and silently thanked the heavens they had been wearing their seatbelts. "Martha." he called. "Martha."  
  
The strawberry blonde woman opened her blue eyes. Her head was throbbing. "Jonathan.What happened?"  
  
The man looked around, beholding the fiery fields and the craters that had opened up the earth. "I don't know. I-"  
  
Suddenly the two of them heard little sobs and sniffles. They looked out to their left and saw a young, blonde girl of no more than three years old huddled into a ball at the edge of a crater, looking into it.  
  
The man struggled with his seatbelt and braced himself to fall from his seat. He crawled out of the window, his wife following from her own side of the truck. They approached the little girl, who was rocking back and forth, crying.  
  
The little girl turned around, her blue eyes large and scared and wet. She spoke, but the couple didn't understand what she said. The woman took off her flannel jacket and wrapped it around the tiny child. Th girl clung to the woman and laid her little blonde head on her shoulder.  
  
"Martha." the man said. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"  
  
The woman looked into the crater. Her eyes grew large and she gasped. Below in the crater was an elliptic, metallic compartment. What seemed odder was that only half of it was there.  
  
"What do you think it is, Jonathan?"  
  
The tall man shook his head. "I don't know.But we need to get it out of here. If anyone finds it, they'll link it back to this little girl."  
  
"Are you saying you want to keep her?" Martha was little shocked that her husband would suggest something like that, but was thrilled.  
  
"We don't have much of a choice, Martha," he said as he climbed down into the crater. "If anyone one of these government officials find this.thing.and her, who knows how many pieces they'll chop her into to put under a microscope."  
  
"What are you talking about, Jonathan? You act like she's some sort of.Gene Roddenberry alien."  
  
Jonathan put his hand onto the craft and pulled it away quickly. "What child climbs out of a metal ship that's hotter than Hades and doesn't get burned?" He showed his wife the temporary marks that were scalded onto his hand.  
  
Martha's eyes grow wide yet again as she looks between her husband and the little girl in her arms.  
  
The small child lifts her head off of Martha's shoulder and says something in her alien tongue. "Erehw Si Kal? Kal-El?" 


	4. Chapter Three: Dare

Xir'ee Carrelson sat inside the Talon, drinking not coffee, but a Sobe. She didn't like coffee, and wouldn't be hanging out inside a coffeehouse, had there been another place to be in this wretched town. She sat and read a motorcycle magazine, instead of the files her grandmother had given her to manage. She looked up and saw Lex Luthor enter. She smirked and went back to reading her magazine. "Welcome to Smallville," she mumbled to herself, "where all rich people exile their unwanted kids." Rumor had it that Lex Luthor had been sent to Smallville because he was weak. The young woman couldn't agree more--Lex Luthor was pitiful. He stuttered and stammered and was easily intimidated.  
  
Xir'ee had also been sentenced to Smallville, but for *completely* different reasons. Her grandmother was convinced that Xir'ee--or Redd, as her mother and father had called her--was wild, unresponsable and the devil incarnate. It was all true, save the latter. She had been expelled from Metropolis Private after wreaking havoc on a field trip. As punishment, her grandmother sent her to Smallville, where she was to attend public school the very next day. Redd was excited. No more uniforms and no more silly dress codes. She was *miles* away from her evil grandmother, and she was content. But that wasn't the end of her punishment. She also had to run the factory that was competing with Lex Luthor's after school. She hated Lex. She hated anyone that didn't have a backbone. Nevertheless, she was bored tonight, and needed some fun.  
  
She set her magazine down, propped her feet up on the table and whistled. "Hey, Lex Loser! You here lookin' for your missing vertebrae?"  
  
Lex turned around and saw her in, spiked collar, messy hair, leather pants and all. "N-No," he stuttered. "I-I own the place, ac-actually." He hated her. She always made him feel ignorant, despite the inventive genius he was. He gulped, and tried not to stutter. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Redd smiled cockily. "Wouldn't wittle curly top wike to know?" she said using a condescending voice. "Figures you'd own the place. If it sucks like a Luthor, it's owned by a Luthor."  
  
"Then why are you even here, Xir'ee?" he asked. He knew she hated being called Xir'ee.  
  
That ticked Redd off. Her brows furrowed and she pushed her red-tinted, non-prescription glasses up. "Because, Loser-Boy, there ain't *nothin'* here to do in this God-forsaken town. Except, maybe...street racing..." She arched an eyebrow. "But lil' ol' me hasn't had anyone take up the offer...Wittle Wex Wuthor wouldn't happen to want to wace, would he?"  
  
Redd's condescending voice gave Lex a headache. "No," he said and turned to leave her.  
  
Redd stood up and raised her voice to make sure everyone heard her. "Awww...Is Wittle Wex afrwaid? Bok, bok, bok!"  
  
Lex stopped dead in his tracks. He was sent to Smallville to prove that he wasn't a backboneless chicken. Now he could try and prove it. "N-No. Let's go."  
  
Redd smiled. Lex "Loser" had fallen right into her little trap.  
  
It was almost pitch black. It wasn't late at night, though. Clouds were lingering from the thundershower they had earlier that day. A solitary figure walked down the empty, winding road until she reached the bridge. It was a nice place to just sit and think. Sure, she had her Fortress of Solitude, but there was just something about the sound of running water, the cool breeze that seemed to emanate from the glassy ripples and how one's reflection seemed to have a life and personality all it's own. She usually stopped here on her way home from the Talon of school just to think and meditate. For such a young girl, she had a lot on her mind.  
  
She stood there, gazing out over the bridge into the crystal water, listening to the crickets chip, contemplating.When out of nowhere, a motorcycle and Porsche come straight at her, well exceeding 100 miles an hour. The motorcycle lost control and spun violently, while the Porsche swerved and hit the tall, blonde girl.  
  
The cycle spun off the other side of the bridge. The cyclist managed to dismount and grabbed the railing of the bridge. The red-headed girl hung off the side of the railing as she watched her precious bike get sucked into the strong currents before beginning to rock herself back and forth to increase her momentum to backflip to safety.  
  
The Porsche careened over the bridge, taking the blonde with it. They plummeted into the water. The driver was knocked unconscious, sustaining several injuries. Surprisingly, the girl didn't have a scratch on her.  
  
She noticed that water is filling the car and the unconscious driver will drown if she doesn't act fast. She swam at an amazing rate towards the silver vehicle. When the door won't budge, she did what would be considered humanly impossible: She tore the roof of the car off and ripped the seatbelt in two to free the bald driver.  
  
She reached the surface and pulled the young man to the riverbank. His lips were beginning to turn blue, as he wasn't breathing. She immediately began CPR as she had been taught to do her freshmen year of high school. She breathed gently into his mouth, not wanting to burst his lungs with her own powerful ones. She prayed that he'd start breathing. 


	5. Chapter Four: Aftermath

Lex Luthor had never been in a dangerous situation in his life. He had tried to stay away from conflict in general, much less danger. That was the foundation of the Luthor psyche, the Luthor world, and Lex wanted nothing to do with it. He was less of a Luthor in his own mind than he was in his father's, and that was saying something. He had ever been considered the "good" son, mostly because, in truth, he was the good son, not the plotting, scheming, backstabbing, mirror image of his father that Lionel had wished he was.  
  
So why had he agreed to Redd's little dare? He himself wasn't even sure. It certainly had nothing to do with the rivalry of the two families--he could care less. But his personal integrity had been compromised by low- key, stand-off-ish personality more times than he could count by those who actually respected the Luthors, and for those who didn't, the fact that Lex actually had some sense of humanity wasn't enough to gain friendship in their eyes, either. In short, he was the perfect definition of a loner. But  
  
he still had some self respect, and Redd had just pushed him too far.  
  
.Right over a bridge.  
  
He looked down, floating over Smallville, and realized that it was the end. Never again would he have to take Redd's mockings, his father's tauntings, his brother's ego. Now, he would be at peace. He hadn't realized how nice of a place Smallville was until he saw it from a birds eye view, and just as he was noting the beautiful farm land and the wide open spaces that were no where to be found in Metropolis, he saw the bright light, and thought to himself, ~This is it. I'm dead.~  
  
Lex caughed and weezed as water flew from his lungs and out of his mouth. He opened his eyes and found his lips inches away from another pair, this one lucious and belonging to the face of the most gorgious girl he had ever laid eyes on. He stared into  
  
her eyes for a moment, and a wave of emotion overcame him.  
  
She had brought him back to his hell on Earth. But he smiled anyway.  
  
"I could have sworn I hit you," he said.  
  
The blonde pulled away and stared at him, eyes wide, emphasising their vibrant blue color. She studdered for a moment as she tried to come up with an excuse. She couldn't tell him the truth about her. Her parents would kill her.  
  
"No...No. You didn't hit me," she said. "You almost did...but, uh..." She bit down on her bottom lip. "Karate!" she blurted out. "I, uh...took karate as a kid. One of the techniques was learning how to jump far and high. I...jumped out of your way." When she heard her own words, she felt like a moron. She hoped the curly-haired, young man she had just saved believed her.  
  
She looked around. "Wasn't there another person here? Someone on a motorcycle?"  
  
Redd then decided to make an appearance. "There sure was...That is, until my precious bike went over the edge."  
  
"You should be lucky you're alive," the blonde said.  
  
Redd just shrugged. "Life is the *ultimate* adventure and death's the prize that awaits us all." She paused and looked down at Lex. "Wooks wike Wittle Wex didn't get that prizey-wizey after all," she sneered.  
  
The blonde looked at the redhead. It had been only thirty seconds and already she didn't like her.  
  
Lex hated confrontation with Redd about as much as he hated confrontation with his father. Nonetheless, she had gone too far this time. Not even the insecure Lex Luthor could allow this horror to continue without defending himself. At least, as much as he was able. Lex tried not to talk to much- he had seen words get too many people in trouble over the years.  
  
"You almost got me killed," said Lex. "If it hadn't been for this girl, I'd be dead."  
  
It hurt like hell, but Lex stood up and started walking away. He wasn't sure how he would drag himself back to the mansion, but he had to make a statement, and most statements were best made with actions and not words. Lex wanted Redd to know that  
  
he could continue even after her constant humilations of him. And if that meant crawling and hitchiking back home, so be it.  
  
"Leave me alone," he said to Redd, looking behind him. Then, he slowly started to walk up the hill next to the bridge.  
  
"Whoo-hoo..." Redd said sarcastically. "Look at the curly-fry stand up for himself. Y'know, Lex...You've always been a wuss and looks like *nothin'* in this whole-friggin'-universe can change that!"  
  
Seeing that she wasn't going to get any reaction, Redd turned and went the opposite direction, mumbling and cursing the entire time after she had realized that her cell phone had taken the big swim with her bike.  
  
The blonde looked up at Redd. ~That girl is just plain evil,~ she thought. ~How can anyone be so mean?~  
  
She went to go catch up with the man with curly red hair. "Hey!" she said as she reached him. "It's a long way back into town. My house isn't that far away. I could take you there and my dad could give you a lift back to wherever you're headed."  
  
She smiled and held out her hand. "My name's Kara Kent."  
  
"Lex Luthor," he said, barely looking up at her. "Kara, that's an intersting name. I guess I'm not the only one here not from Smallville." He tried a smile but it came out fake, and he nervously looked around.  
  
Kara smiled a little nervously. "Yeah...My parents adopted me. They said I didn't speak a word of English, but I kept calling myself 'Kara.' It just sort of...stuck."  
  
She paused. "So what brings you to Smallville?"  
  
This was the most pleasent conversation Lex had had with anyone in a long time. He was almost surprised he was still talking with Kara, but he couldn't help it. He felt connected to her somehow.  
  
"Apparently I'm not quite the businessman my brother is," said Lex, bitterly. "My father exhiled me here so he wouldn't have to put up with the lesser son. I'm running the Luthorcorp fertilizer plant here."  
  
Lex looked at her for a moment and hesitated as his curiosity sunk in. He shouldn't have survived that accident, but he had, and thinking back, he could see Kara's figure slam against his car as it careened over the edge. "Kara... you're sure I didn't hit you?  
  
Kara froze. She looked at him, trying to hide her nervousness. She hated lying, but according to her parents, she hadn't a choice if she didn't want to spend the rest of her life under a microscope.  
  
She smiled and forced a laugh. "If you had hit me, then I doubt either one of us would be alive," she said.  
  
She decided to change the topic. "LuthorCorp, hm? Don't tell my father that...He has this thing against all Luthors. They--or I guess that would be your dad--came to him once and asked if they could use his farm to test fertilizer on. I don't know all the  
  
details, but whatever happened, he didn't like the contract and decided to go with CarreCorp, which only wanted a fraction of the farm, and instead of owning it, they're renting it."  
  
"Dad isn't exactly a people person," said Lex. "Believe me, I'd keep my heritage to myself if I could, but I'm marked for life as the son of Lionel Luthor. From what I can tell, that already puts me on most of Smallville's hit list. So I pretty much keep to myself, do my job, leave everyone else alone."  
  
Lex wished he could keep talking to Kara, but he was afraid to let anyone know much about him. As long as he stayed away from people and kept them from trusting him, he would never want to manipulate them like his father. It was better to try to help people from a distance.  
  
"Can you give me a ride back to the mansion? I'll leave you alone after that."  
  
"Yeah. We're almost to my place," Kara said, wondering why Lex had suddenly become so quiet. The rest of the journaey was made in silence.  
  
In a few short minutes, they had reached Kara's home. She walked up the steps and entered the house with Lex tailing shortly behind her.  
  
"Mom! Dad!" she called.  
  
Her mother came out of the kitchen, wearing an apron she was cleaning flour off of her hands with. "Hi honey." She looked at the curly-haired young man that was with her. "Who's your friend?"  
  
"This is Lex. He...sorta crashed his car over the bridge. He needs a ride back to his place," Kara explained, excluding the major details. If she told her mom that she had saved him from drowing, the "Questions" would ensue after Lex left. The "Did you use your powers?" and the "Did he see you use your powers?" and let's not forget the lecture that would follow-- "You know it's important that no one sees you using your powers...Yadda, yadda, yadda..."  
  
Kara wished the only thing freakish about her was her unusually tall height.  
  
"Oh...Alright," her mother said, a little concerned. She held out her hand and then pulled it back after a few moments when she realized she hadn't gotten all the flour off of it. "My name's Martha. Would you care to sit down and have some lemonade while Kra  
  
goes and gets her father? You must feel awful..." She smiled sweetly.  
  
Lex hesitated but then focused on Martha's sincere smile. It didn't remind him that he was a Luthor, didn't tell him to go back to Metropolis with his manipulative bastard of a father where he belonged, didn't tell him, as his father had with every action, that he was completely hopeless.  
  
Lex smiled and nodded in appreciation. "Thanks, I am a little thirsty," he said. "Mrs. Kent, you have a very nice home. Have you and your husband always been farmers?"  
  
Martha brought in some lemonade and some cinnamon cookies. "Jonathan's great-grandfather was farmer. He was in the first group to come to the area. I'm from Metropolis." She smiled sincerely.  
  
Kara had gone out to get her father. Once she was out of Lex' eyeshot, she ran at nigh-lightspeed. It was another one of her "gifts."  
  
She found her dad riding around in the tractor. She stopped where he could see her.  
  
The burly man turned off the tractor. "Hey, sweetie," he said. "Ready to get to work?"  
  
Kara approached the tractor upon which her father was perched upon. "Actually...I was wondering if you could do someone a favor."  
  
"It depends on what the favor is," he replied.  
  
"This guy crashed his car on the bridge. He needs a ride home," she said, again excluding the impotant parts like 'he crashed into me at 120 miles an hour, knocked both of us into the river, I ripped the hood of his car off to save him.' If Lex didn't see her use her powers, then why get her parents all up into a hissy-fit?  
  
Jonathan's smile sunk into a slight frown. "You brought home some stranger to the house?"  
  
Kara glanced sideways, trying to avoid eye contact with her father. "Well...yeah..."  
  
"And you didn't think he'd be some sort of serial killer?"  
  
"He seemed alright..." she said. "And besides, it not like he could do anything to me."  
  
Jonathan sighed. "True...But I still don't like you bringing people home, especially people you know nothing about." He started up the tractor. "Come on," he motioned.  
  
Kara climbed onto the tractor as they drove it back to the barn.  
  
A few minutes later, the daddy-daughter tag-team entered their home. Martha and Lex were still chatting it up. J onathan grabbed his keys from off the kitchen counter. He walked into the living room and stopped abruptly. "Luthor..."  
  
Lex' heart jumped into his throat. Jonathan's tone sounded like someone about to throw a noose around his neck.  
  
"M-Mr. Kent," Lex said. "I'm sorry all of this happened... but your daughter was nice enough to bring me to your home. I'll... I'll just be going now, the castle isn't too far... sorry for bothering you."  
  
Lex stumbled trying to reach the door. He opened it and began to walk out, angry at himself for his utter lack of a backbone. Why should he let people like Jonathan Kent intimidate him? Jonathan hated his father for what he had done to the citizens of Smallville--Lex had nothing to do with it. And if he could just build the self esteem, he  
  
could have told Kent that. Instead, he just made an ass of himself. Again.  
  
Kara spun around to face her dad as Lex walked out. She narrowed his eyes at him. "He just wanted a ride back home! His car crashed and he's already walked this far from the bridge!"  
  
"He's a Luthor!" Jonathan Kent said.  
  
"That's your best comeback? 'He's a Luthor'? So, what? Next we won't be able to give Pete a ride because he's black? Or Chloe because she's a goth? Or Whitney becuase he's a Fodman? Listen to yourself, dad! That's the most ridiculous reason I've ever heard!"  
  
Martha stood by and watched. She knew better than to interfere when her husband and daughter were having a fight. She remembered all the fightes she had when she was Kara's age with her own father. She always hated it when her mother tried to be the mediator, so she wasn't going to be one to her daughter, either.  
  
"You don't understand Kara--he's not like us."  
  
Kara rolled her eyes. "He's more like you than I am!"  
  
Martha tried to stifle a smile. Kara always played her "I'm Different, I'm An Alien" card whenever she wanted something. It rarely worked on Martha, but for some reason it always got to Jonathan.  
  
The patriarch paused for a moment.  
  
"Besides," Kara said, a little calmer now, "That was his dad that tried to screw you over--"  
  
"Kara!" Martha said. She didn't like such language coming from her only daughter's mouth.  
  
"--do you really think that young man back there has the capabilities to do what his father did? I don't thik he does...He's really nice, not at all what you'd expect."  
  
Jonathan sat and paused for a moment, still reeling from what his daughter had said just a few moments earlier. He'd give anything to give his beautiful Kara a normal life where she didn't have secrets to hide or gifts to constantly be in control of.  
  
"It's just one ride, Daddy," Kara said with pleading eyes.  
  
The older man sighed. "Fine."  
  
Kara broke into a smile and kissed her father on the cheek. "Thanks, Daddy! You go get the car started, I'll catch up to him."  
  
"Alright," Jonathan said. "But don't run too fast!"  
  
Kara ran as fast as she was allowed to. "Hey, Lex!" she called when she got close enough. Within just a few moments, she caught all the way up with him. "I talked my dad into giving you that ride afterall." She flashed a big, bright smile at him as she tucked away some blonde hair behind her ears.  
  
Lex looked at her and then turned back in embarrassment. "This is the story of my life," he said. "Complication. You may have talked him into it, but he doesn't want to."  
  
He started to walk off again, and could feel Kara's stare. "Look," he said, raising his voice only slightly. "I don't know why you're being so nice to me, but it's making me uncomfortable. I'm not used to people trying to be my friend. There are too many who want to be my enemy--I choose to ignore them. So basically, I ignore everyone. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but..." He looked into her eyes now. She was beautiful; he tried to forget that fact. She was the first person to sincerely be interested in his wellbeing, much less the first beautiful girl to. "I'm sure I know what your father said-it's what they all say. The stereotype that precedes all stereotypes. I'm a Luthor. He's right. And you're playing with fire."  
  
He started walking away again, and tears began to fall from his face as he did so. 


End file.
